Cheese-cutter



(No Model.) 7 2 SheetsSh.eet- 1.

L. H. HICKS.

} CHEESE CUTTER.

No. 593,656. Patented Nov. 16,1897.

WITNESSES 1 INVENTOR Lou 0's HHZ/Z/ES. g! flf W A llomey (No; Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

L. H. HICKS.

CHEESE CUTTER. No. 593,656. Patented Nov 16,1897;

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WITNESSES NrrED STATES LOUIS H. HICKS, on LYONS, INDIANA.

CHEESE-CUTTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 593,656, dated November 16, 1897. Application filed February 20, 1897. Serial No. 624,398. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS H. HICKS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lyons, in the county of Greene and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Combination Cheese Measurer and Cutter; and I do hereby declare the Y following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and efficient device for measuring and cutting cheese, whereby the required amount may be severed from the cheese without the necessity for weighing. v

To the accomplishment of these and other objects my invention consists in providing a cheese-knife mounted upon a suitable swiveled frame and provided with actuating mechanism which will enable the knife to be employed as a lever having a variable fulcrum, as it is desired to depress the point and heel of the knife alternately in the operation of cutting the cheese.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my device in use. Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof. Fig. 3 is a side elevation showing the manner of manipulation of the knife in the act of cutting, and Fig.4 is a detail view of the knife-gage.

Referring to the numerals on the drawings, 1 indicates a suitable platform, which in practice is the bottom of a cheese-case, to which is screwed or otherwise secured the supporting-standards 3, supporting at their uppermost extremities a pair of horizontal strips 4,

crossing each other at right angles and provided at the point of their juncture with bearing-apertures 5, designed for the reception of the swivel-bolt 6 of the knife-supporting frame 7. The frame 7 consists of abracket 8, composed of a pair of rectangular framepieces 9, swiveled by eyes 10 upon the bolt 6 and suitably braced, as by.brace-pieces 11.

12 12 indicate a pair of guides-carried by each of the frame-pieces 9, preferably adjacent to their upper extremities, and designed for the reception of a pair of knife-supportin g rods 13, provided upon their contiguous faces with the ratchet-teeth 14 and pivoted at their lower extremities to the upper edge of the cheese-knife.

16 16 indicate a pair of weighted pawls pivoted upon the frame-pieces below the guides designed to be employed to actuate the same or to be folded in a manner to permit the closing of the cheese-case in order that the cheese may be preserved under ordinary circumstances in a fly-proof case.

The mechanism thus far describedconstitutes the cheese-cutting mechanism, and I shall now describe a simple and convenient device by means of which the amount of cheese to be severed is gaged with accuracy.

18 indicates a graduated gage-rod adjacent to its heel and curved in a degree corresponding to the curvature of the circumference of the cheese and supporting a gage-plate 19 by .means of a gage-clamp 20, adapted to be adj ustably secured upon a gage-rod, as by an abutment-screw 21.

2 In practice the device as organized is placed within a cheese-case and over a cheese, the center of the cheese, the point of the knife,

and the swiveled bolt of the knife-support-' ing frame being in axial alinement in order that the knife may assume a radial position with respect to the cheese whatever position the knife-supporting frame may be caused to assume by the operator, as it is evident that in order to gage the quantity removed from a cheese, which is usually cylindrical in form, it is necessary that the piece removed shall be of a segmental form. In order to make the first cut into a whole cheese, the thumbscrew on the knife is loosened and the knife is removed from the rod or arm upon which it is mounted. The knife is then depressed in the manner above described until the cheese is cut through. After lifting the knife the knife-gage is again placed in position at the proper point on its arm or red and the parts are moved into a position which will bring the knife in alinement with the cut previously formed. By now depressing the knife a section of cheese of the required size may be removed. Supposing a segment of a cheese has already been removed and that a predetermined quantity is desired to be cut from the remaining cheese-section, the gageplate, which is likewise radially disposed with respect to the cheese by reason of the curvature of the gage-rod, is set at the desired distance from the knife and the knife-frame is swung to bring the gage-plate in alinement with the edge of the cheese. The size of the segment of the cheese defined by the gageplate and knife at its opposite sides having thus been determined,the operator bears upon the handle and depresses the heel of the knife, the pivotal connection of the latter with the front knife-supporting rod constituting a pivot. As the heel is depressed the pawl in engagement with the front knife-supporting rod prevents the elevation of said rod, and the pivotal connection between the knife and the front forms the fulcrum upon which the knife is swung. The handle is then elevated and the point of the knife is thereby depressed, the forward knife-supporting rod being dogged in a manner similar to the dogging of the rear supporting-rod, as described. This elevating and depressing alternately of the knife-handle will thus cause the knife to be forced through the cheese, and the required amount will be severed and will be prevented from falling over and being broken by reason of the gage-plate, which has during the operation described passed along the outer edge of the cheese.

It will be observed that by the construction described I have produced an effieient device by means of which any desired quantity of cheese may be severed from the bulk with accuracy and expedition; but I do not desire to limit myself to the details of construction herein shown and described, as it is obvious that various changes and modifications might be made in the construction of minor details without departing from the scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a device of the character described,

the combination with a suitable support, of a swiveled knife-supporting frame, a pair of vertically-movable knife-supporting rods, a knife pivotally connected to each of said rods and independent means for adjustably securing said rods, substantially as specified.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination with a suitable support, of a knife-supporting frame, a pair of knife-supporting rods carried by the knife-supporting frame and provided with ratchet-tcetl1,aknife pivoted to each of said rods and pawls designed to engage the teeth upon the knifesupporting rods substantially as specified.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination with a swiveled knifesupportingframe, of apair of independent knifesupporting rods adjustably carried by the knife-so pporting frame, a knife pivotally connected to each of said rods, and gage mechanism, substantially as specified.

4. In a device of the character described, the combination with a swiveled supportingframe, of a pair of knife-supporting rods carried thereby, a knife pivoted to said rods and having its extremity in line with the axis of the pivot of the swiveled supporting-frame, pawls in engagement with the teeth upon the knife-supporting rods, a curved gage-rod carried by the knife and a gage-plate adjustable upon the gage-rod, substantially as specified.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination with a swiveled knife-supporting frame, a knife adjustably carried thereby, and an adjustable gage carried by said knife, of a plurality of supporting-standards, horizontal strips carried by the standards and provided with apertures for the reception of the swivel-bolt of the knife-supporting frame, substantially as specified.

6. In a device of the character described, the combination with a swiveled knife-supporting frame, of a knife adjustably mounted thereon and provided with a folding handle, and independently-adjustable means for pivotally supporting the opposite ends of the knife, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LOUIS II. HICKS.

Witnesses:

F. XV. BENJAMIN, WEs STALCUP. 

